Sanctions show that Beijing will brook no challenge to China's core interests

By putting 10 United States entities on its Unreliable Entity List and 28 US entities on its Export Control List on Thursday, the first work day of the new year, Beijing is not only responding to the most recent arms sales to Taiwan and the probe into China's conventional semiconductor sector that the Joe Biden administration announced late last month, but also reminding the incoming US administration of China's resolve to guard its red lines.

All of the 10 US companies that China has identified as "unreliable" have participated in arms sales to Taiwan island and carried out so-called military and technical cooperation with its secessionist-minded authority despite Beijing's strong opposition. In doing so, they have violated the one-China principle and the provisions of the three Sino-US joint communiques, and seriously undermined peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing's move is thus fully justified as they have sought to undermine China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Taiwan question is China's internal affair, concerns China's core interests, and brooks no external interference. The one-China principle is a recognized basic norm of international relations and a universal consensus of the international community. China has therefore always firmly opposed the US selling weapons to the island, which is a breach of the US administration's avowal of not supporting "Taiwan independence".